Avon Valley Railway

Avon Valley Railway
Bitton railway station and yards from a level crossing with the Bristol & Bath Railway Path
Locale	Gloucestershire
Commercial operations
Name	Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line
Original gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Length	3 miles (4.8 km)
Preserved gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Commercial history
Closed	1966
Preservation history
1977	Reopened
1991	Oldand Common Re-opens, Line Extended
2004	Avon Riverside Opens to the Public, Line Extended
Headquarters	Bitton

The Avon Valley Railway (AVR) is a three-mile-long heritage railway based at Bitton station in South Gloucestershire, England, not far from Bristol and is run by a local group: The Avon Valley Railway Company Ltd. The railway follows the Avon Valley south-east from Oldland Common, through Bitton and alongside the River Avon towards Kelston and Bath. The railway shares its route with the Sustrans cycleway and footpath, the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.

The railway is part of the otherwise-dismantled Midland Railway Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line, which was closed in 1966 as a result of the Beeching cuts and due mainly to the Great Western Railway being just a few miles to the south, which also connected Bristol and Bath.

The railway is perhaps best known for connecting the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), whose northern terminus was at Bath Green Park station, with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The Midland Railway lines along the Avon Valley thus opened up the S&D lines to travellers from the British industrial Midlands. This was particularly so during summer Saturdays when families flocked south to the beaches of Dorset and the English south coast. Many extra trains thus had to be added to the schedule to accommodate this increased demand. Although owned and run by the Midland Railway, many S&D locomotives were often seen working trains along this line.